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New Earth-like Planet?

GLIESE 581 g. Some call it the "goldilocks planet"- apparently it's not too hot / not too cold and might just be able to sustain life. The atmosphere and gravity of the planet are quite similar to Earth's.

well of course any planets of a size equal to or bigger than the earth are prone to have an atmosphere due to their gravitational pull but it isnt any conclusive evidence to whether the atmosphere that the planet has is capable of supporting life.

well of course any planet of a size equal to or bigger than the earth are prone to have an atmosphere due to their gravitational pull but it isnt any conclusive evidence to whether the atmosphere that the planet has is capable of supporting life.

True. They don't know much about it yet, obviously, but hey, journalists love speculation about this stuff.

Originally made by LM:

~ I have said nothing because there is nothing I can say that would describe how I feel as perfectly as you deserve it. -- Kyle Schmidt ~

~Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. -- Josh Billings ~

It is the greatest hubris to assume that all life has requirements similar to ours. A different form of life could have very different requirements.

For example, did you know that there is a type of bacteria that can only survive at the boiling point? There are acidic hot springs bacteria and even radioactive waste bacteria. Who is to say that in several millenia it won't be such hardy creatures that populate our planet?

With this in mind, why assume that all life in the entire wide universe has requirements similar to ours?

It is preposterous to assume that if there is life out there, that they have requirements even similar to ours. In fact, our atmosphere might be toxic to them. It is very likely to be so, if there is advanced life.

There could be life forms out there. It is absurd to think that we are the most advanced.

So sure, we found a planet similar to ours, that we could potentially inhabit. What about all the other planets we've found? They are just as likely to hold life, and life that is quite different to us.

Interesting. It is thought that in order to have on atmophere you need either a strong magnetic feild ex. earth or a constant release of gas ex. venus or some of Jupiter's moons. Without either you atmosphere simply gets blown away.

Well actually, unless you have some liquid suitable for transporting whatever the life form uses in the place of proteins, life can't really get going. Other things that are important to consider include respiration and the difficulties that come from changing the ingredients. For sure you might not have to use oxygen, hydrogen and carbon compounds, but others might make the task harder. The reason we're looking for planets like ours is because we know for a sure fire certainty that a planet like ours should be capable of supporting life because at least one of them does and we can prove it. Any other ways life can get started and keep a grip would be speculation, and trying to find a planet suitable for supporting life in a way you don't understand is less likely to be successful.

Problem is, there's no reaching this planet unless by light speed and it's about 2 lightyears away. I think we're better off terraforming Mars. I mean, it's right the fuck next door, and we're already on the cusp of a weather control system, and I think it's a lot more practical than this silly pipe dream of traveling faster than light to a solar system we're unfamiliar with.

We'd need to learn how to navigate wormholes before we even think about finding a shortcut to this goldilocks planet.

Um...

From:
ShadowRaven

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." Albert Einstein

2 lightyears would be 20 years away if we built an Orion spacecraft. These are about the size of a city so living on one shouldn't be an issue even without hibernation. Plus you have to factor in time dilation due to traveling at 10% the speed of light. In all, reaching a planet that far away is perfectly within our grasp if we were to do so with the intent of settling there. We have the technology, we just don't have the interest.

"I prefer a sane world where you are rewarded by providing people with something they want. Not arbitrarily rewarded in a status game that reminds me of chimpanzees." - nazgulnarsil

Here I am with my empire
Iíll bring you to your knees
Ebb and flow with my desire
Cause its all that youíve been taught to be

2 lightyears would be 20 years away if we built an Orion spacecraft. These are about the size of a city so living on one shouldn't be an issue even without hibernation. Plus you have to factor in time dilation due to traveling at 10% the speed of light. In all, reaching a planet that far away is perfectly within our grasp if we were to do so with the intent of settling there. We have the technology, we just don't have the interest.

Er, I'm not quite sure about that. First off you don't mention any necessities; how are you going to feed an entire city in space? Scrap that; where's the oxygen going to come from? If the answer to both those questions is gardens, likely 75%+ of the ship will need to be nothing but plants. Also, for any long-term mission like the one you're describing, it becomes imperative that we find some source of artificial gravity. And electricity? If you're going outside the bounds of our solar system, then solar power might not be reliable.

So in a way, you are right. We do have the technology to get there. But human interest in getting there is only one in long list of problems we've got going before such a mission becomes viable.

From:
ShadowRaven

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." Albert Einstein